The Flow of Blood
by EternalShad0w
Summary: What if Katara didn't let go of her mother? What if the thoughts of revenge hardened her heart? What if she could bloodbend when she was 10? In this AU fanfic, Katara is an icy and fiery individual. Warning: Contains (kinda) graphic descriptions of horrible things and people dying all willy-nilly. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Why would I be here otherwise?
1. Chapter I: Dark Beginnings

**The Flow of Blood**

**Author's notes:** Hello and welcome to my first fanfic. As I just said it's my first so please forgive me if it isn't to your liking. It will be a fanfic about Avatar. No, not those blue aliens but the **GOD**-like 12-year old who saves the world with **ULTIMATE POWER** over fire, water, earth, air and cosmic mumbo-jumbo.

Anyways, I woke up this morning after reading an unhealthy amount of A:TLA fanfics and I suddenly thought: **EVIL KATARA!** "Noooo!", I hear some of you cry. "Not Katara, she's not like that you can't do this to sweet Katara!" I assure you I am mentally punishing myself for this act of heresy. But I woke up with a gigantic **WHAT IF **Katara saw her mother's last minute? **WHAT IF **she didn't get over her mother's death? My own answer to that was that Katara would slowly spiral down into a deeper and deeper state of mourning and then lose every emotion but hatred against her mother's murderer and everyone else would be treated like dirt. Kinda based on Blood, Silk, and Steel by Lost In A Dark Wood. Same family. Both screwed up because of the death of a family member. A reminder: I do not own anything of Avatar. Maybe Arooka. Maybe. Anyway, I'll shut up now. 一=Yi=1 in Chinese

**CHAPTER 一  
**

**DARK BEGINNINGS**

_**Katara was bored.**_ She was sitting in a canoe while her annoying brother spied through the icy depths of the sea. There was no talk among them. Katara had only come along because Sokka had begged her to, something about "making up for lost time", and nothing could be done to change his mind. She'd much more liked to find penguins to practice on. It had been 2 years since she first discovered that she could bend the body fluids of animals. It had been a year since she discovered it could be done with humans as well. It had taken a month perfecting the movements of her victim, Arooka (one of the women who collected berries), after that she learned how to make the victim speak against her will, sadly all she could manage was a dull monotone. Then she bended Arooka over to the cave which she had lived in for, what, 3 years, half-detached from the village. There she kept her secret, experimenting further on bloodbending. After 2 months she realized she could affect Arooka's organs. For 6 weeks she practiced stopping and starting Arooka's heart. For 2 weeks she blocked blood flow to certain parts of Arooka's body and after a day of uncertainty what to do next she crushed Arooka's organs from the inside and hid her in her favorite juniper berry spot. She couldn't risk Arooka returning to the village and telling the other villagers.

It had been 2 weeks since she returned to the village a changed person. Gone was the Katara who fled the village to a cold cave for 3 years of mourning and left was a cold, ruthless shell of the 8-year old who saw her mother die. And now she was sitting in a boring canoe, being bored. Then she saw the fish. A cold smile spread across her face, now here was something to do. She glanced at Sokka but he was too busy watching for at least one fish. She started with small wavy motions to keep the fish swimming, then she slowly cut the blood supply to its heart, she felt its terrified thoughts/instincts and felt envigored. 2 years of examining the innards of a fish, a penguin and a seal really paid off. Suddenly, Sokka cried out truimphantly, startling Katara and making her lose her concentration. The fish swam away like a rocket.

"Oh, wait...it's just some seaweed. ", he said a little disappointed. Katara stared irritated at him. He didn't notice. She wanted to just push him off the canoe, she really did. No, it would be too obvious. She restrained herself and resorted to a splash of water on the side of his head.

"Hey, what did you do that for.", he whined and turned around to face her. The anger that raged in Katara's brain manifested itself as an exploding iceberg. Waves formed by the sudden movement threw the canoe around. Sokka was screaming. Katara was interested in what would happen next.

"JUMP!", Sokka screamed out. Katara saw two pieces of ice moving towards them from different directions. She and Sokka jumped onto one of the pieces of ice, the canoe was crushed behind them. Katara sighed. If she was to be stuck on a piece of ice she would not want to be stuck with Sokka. She started thinking about what to do when suddenly a giant glowing iceberg pierced the surface.

"Holy...", Sokka cried out. They carefully went over to the iceberg, Katara freezing the water before her and thawing the water after her to get there. She then turned around to watch Sokka clumsily jump from ice piece to ice piece. When he finally got over to Katara he asked,

"Why the hell did you thaw the ice after you?". To get some entertainment, she thought to herself but she didn't answer aloud. She just went up to the glowing ice ball and touched it. She could feel two heartbeats, one very fast and one very slow and booming.

"There's someone in here, there are two in here in fact. Both alive.", she said to Sokka. Then she started thawing the ice. After a minute she broke through to a chamber and the entire iceberg exploded in a pillar of blinding light. After a while the light subsided and she and Sokka looked up. There was a boy who stood in the ball. Now he slumped over and slid down the edges of the shattered ball. The siblings were unsure what to do now. They looked at each other and were engaged in a battle of wills. Katara gave way.

"Fine, I'll go check if he's okay.", she said frustrated. Sokka looked at her with a smug smile on his face. Katara pretended she hadn't seen that. She went over to the boy and checked his heart. It was beating. Suddenly, the boy woke up and saw her ice-cold blue eyes staring at him.

**Author's end notes:** So. That was the very first chapter of my very first fanfic. If you didn't like it, please don't kill me for it. This was just a start. Next time: **Zuko attacks! More Bloodbending! In Chapter II**

**Buhbye.**


	2. A History of Hatred, Sorrow, and Blood

**The Flow of Blood**

Author's notes: So, last time we explored the horrible deeds Katara did in her cave. Please don't get me wrong I love Katara. (not in that way. She's fictional and animated. It wouldn't work.) We ended after they found Aang. Anything you recognize? I probably don't own it. Enjoy. If you dare. 二=Èr=2 in Chinese

* * *

**CHAPTER 二  
**

**A HISTORY OF HATRED, SORROW AND BLOOD**

_**The first thing**_ Aang saw when he woke up from a century of sleep was the face of a tan girl. Her brown hair let down and wild. Aang thought she was pretty, very pretty. In another place, in another time it probably would have been love at first sight for him. But her eyes, her icy blue eyes which stared down at him were filled with hatred, anger, the smallest glimpse of sorrow and something cruel which terrified Aang. The girl glared at him as if he had just seriously offended her, dropped him abruptly on his head and called out:

"He's awake.", with the tone of someone who had been robbed of their favorite toy. He didn't like that tone. Another one came and looked at him. This one was a boy with the same skin, same hair color, though his hair was shaved on the sides of his head with a...ponytail? He also had the same blue eyes, his were filled with sarcasm and slight paranoia, but also with a spark of kindness.

"So it seems.", he said. "Now, who are you?", he asked carefully. As if Aang would explode if he said it wrong. Aang didn't answer. He didn't trust the girl with the icy eyes. Instead he got up and climbed up the side of the iceberg to get to the chamber.

"Oh?",the boy said, "you're not going to dignify us with an answer, oh, great Mr. Iceberg? No, you're climbing back home." The boy had a sarcastic and irritated tone to his voice.

"I'm Aang.", said, um, Aang, deciding to act natural. The boy and the girl climbed after him. They were greeted by the sight of a six-legged white bison with a large, flat tail.

"What is that?", the boy asked incredulously.

"This is Appa. My flying bison.", Aang explained.

"Riiiight", the boy said sarcastically, "and this is Katara, my flying sister. I'm Sokka." Katara shot a deadly glare at Sokka. He gulped. That was not very smart, he would be soaked. Katara's eyes said: _Later._ He did not look forward to being soaked. Appa sneezed. Sokka sidestepped just in time to see Katara get drenched in snot. That was not good. Katara's right eye twitched. _Uh-oh_, Sokka thought. Katara released a profanity that made Sokka cringe and Aang stare at her. Appa roared. Katara felt her hands twitch but she restrained herself, washed herself from snot and dried herself afterwards by bending the water away from her. She took the opportunity to soak Sokka.

"Agh, why would you do that?" _Like you don't know, _her eyes mocked him.

"Anyway", he said grumpily, "we need to get back to our village. Any chance you could help us?" Aang agreed.

"No, no, no, I am not going on that snot monster thing", Katara said angrily, "you know what. I think I'll water speed home. Good luck getting that ten ton beast up in the air." And with that she started to speed away on the ocean.

"Well, it should be easy for me to get into the air at least. I'm an airbender." To prove it he air jumped up on Appa's saddle. He helped Sokka up.

"Okay, yip yip." The bison ran off the iceberg, jumped into the air and landed belly down in the water.

"Woohoo", Sokka said sarcastically.

"He's just tired.", Aang defended Appa with. "Or maybe he's still sad after Katara screamed at him. Why is your sister so mean?", he asked.

"She wasn't always like that.", he said sadly.

"Once she was a nice girl, caring and happy. Then the Fire Navy attacked. They had done raids before, systematically diminishing the waterbender count for each raid. 6 years ago there was another raid, the first for 30 years. Our mother died in that raid. Katara saw everything. When we got there we couldn't find her. We searched and searched and finally me and Dad found her in a cave near the village. She was sobbing and through the sobs we heard her whispering about fire and Mom and some monster. Me and Dad tried to comfort her but she wriggled free and fled in tears deeper into the cave sealing the passage behind her with ice. We felt she needed some alone time, so we went back to the village and told everyone we knew where she was. The following years were hard. She hardly ate anything and she walked to the cave more and more often. Then she didn't leave the cave at all after Dad left for the war. 1 year later she briefly returned for two days. Not saying anything when she came, not saying anything while she was there, not saying anything when she leaved. But I could tell she had changed. Then a year later I saw her more often, training waterbending moves on top of Cave Cliff. It was around the time one of the women, Arooka, I think, went mad. Four months ago, Arooka died in a snow storm. Anyway, two weeks ago, Katara finally returned to the village. But she had changed thoroughly. She was no longer the 8-year old girl who mourned her lost mother. She was an icy girl with hateful eyes. There's the cave by the way."

Aang landed in front of the cave entrance.

"Um, Aang, what are you doing.", Sokka asked.

"I want to see the cave.", Aang answered. He jumped off Appa and headed towards the cave. Sokka tried to do the same but tripped on the saddle and fell face down into the snow. Inside there was a sleeping bag and a roaring campfire.

"Why is the fire still lit?", Aang asked mostly to himself.

"She likes to come here sometimes still. She must have been here before we came. You know, I used to bring her food outside the entrance. Never went in, though.", Sokka said. Aang didn't listen. He was looking at an ice wall.

"Is this where she fled?", he asked. Sokka said that it was. Aang knocked on the ice. Then he used a large blast of hot air to melt the ice. Inside they were greeted by a sickening sight.

The whole room was made of ice. A little here and there hang blocks of ice, each with a disemboweled glowfish in. The was also ice cubes with penguins, seals and a polar bear-dog. But worst of all, in the middle of the room there was a disemboweled Fire Nation scout. His face frozen into an eternal fear-struck face. You could see exactly where his heart, his brain and other organs were. Aang threw up, but Sokka merely looked at the frozen man and said,

"No one deserves that.", with sadness in his voice.

They ran up the slope to the overlook of Cave Cliff to watch for Katara. They saw her in the village just coming out of an igloo. In the distance, they saw a Fire Navy ship coming towards the village.

Katara had just been talked into going back to Sokka when she saw him and Baldy (she knew his real name, of course. He had told her. She just didn't care enough, though) running down Cave Cliff. A gnarl of worry took root in her stomach. Had they seen the room? After a minute they came into the village. Aang was looking at her in disgust and Sokka just stared sadly at her. _They know_, Katara thought. The gnarl grew. _Will you tell the others?_, Katara asked Sokka with her eyes. He shook his head. The gnarl dislodged itself. Suddenly, a black flake blew past her face. It was quickly accompanied by more black flakes. The villagers stopped what they were doing, looked up and as one they said with fear in their voices:

"Soot."

The villagers quickly brought the children to safety. Sokka motioned for Aang to follow them. He did. Sokka readied himself for battle. First, he painted his face in white, blue and black. He remembered when his father showed him how to paint his face. It supposedly looked like the face of the Zhànshì spirits who obeyed no one but Tui and La and the chiefs of the Water Tribes. Sokka thought it was nonsense, but a little tradition couldn't hurt. Besides, it was one of his happier memories when he learnt it. Before his mother's death, before Katara...no, he didn't want to think about it now. He could deal with her later. He took up his boomerang and his club and went out to meet the enemy. When he came out, the women was standing there to watch. Gran-Gran stood foremost. Sokka readied himself for a charge with his club. The front of the ship fell down in the snow.

Out came a scarred young officer in a helmet followed by six soldiers. Sokka charged at the officer who effortlessly kicked him out of the way.

"Where are you hiding him?", he screamed angrily at the crowd. Sokka charged at him again. He dodged Sokka. He punched into the air letting out a blast of fire narrowly missing the crowd.

"I know you have the Avatar here. Where is he?", he screams to the fearful crowd. Then, he looked around and saw Katara hiding in the shadow of an igloo. He smiled.

"Very well then. I think I need a hostage then.", he said,

"**GET THAT GIRL!**", he ordered two guards and pointed at Katara. The two guards ran towards Katara who in a moment of panic threw the igloo at them and missed. Fortunately the children were in another igloo.

"A waterbender.", the officer whispered. The two soldiers were both firebenders and quickly jabbed fireballs at her. Reminded of her mother she quickly dodged the fireballs and used the snow to catapult her to another igloo.

"No fire, you idiots, we don't want to kill her.", the officer screamed at his soldiers. They drew their swords, ran towards Katara and suddenly stopped. "What are you waiting for?", the officer screamed.

"Can't...move...", one of soldiers said hoarsely.

"What do you mean?!", the officer screamed angrily. Then they floated up into the air while they were giving off screams of excruciating pain. The village and the soldiers turned to look at Katara who were doing waterbending moves. Everybody's eyes widened when they realized that she was doing this and they were horrified when they saw the dark smirk that she wielded when she crushed their organs with an audible **SHPLAT!**

_Iroh watched the fight from the helm of the ship. When he saw what the waterbender did. He knew what just happened, he had seen it before, in a __spiritual dream where he had fought a blue-eyed demon when it started to do these strange motions. Iroh had not been able to move and suddenly he couldn't breathe and then he woke up drenched in sweat. He hadn't understood at the time but later as he saw his friend, Pakku, perfecting his moves, he noted the similarities in what the beast did with the motions Pakku did. He told Pakku about the dream and he said that the demon had bloodbended. It was a dark and forbidden art and anyone who performed it were banished. And now Iroh stood here watching a 14-year old girl performing it in front of her entire village. That cruel smirk she had right before she killed the two recruits reminded him of Azula, he knew the recruits, of course. He knew everyone on the ship after three years with them. What were their names? He scanned their armor for clues and saw them. Huo and Zhu, both 19 years old, brothers, sons of a dead chili farmer. He had hoped it wouldn't be them. He had known them since before Prince Zuko's banishment. He had offered to help them in scaling the ranks, but they had said to Iroh that after the war, they would start a white dragon bush farm. Iroh could come whenever he wanted to and drink tea with them. They had dreams and hopes and wasn't Zhu engaged to that lovely lady, Ji Fong. Iroh had met her a week before the banishment. A single tear fell down Iroh's cheek when he thought about Ji Fong. She would be crushed. Then he saw the Water Tribe girl moving towards Zuko with a murderous grin in her face. He had to do something._

Katara used the snow to her advantage as she moved through enemy lines towards the officer. Jumping from soldier to soldier killing them by completely drying them of blood, adding it to an orb floating over her left palm. Then she threw the blood orb towards the officer. He dodged and Katara started waving her arms in the familiar pattern. She cut the blood supply to heart by making a pinching gesture as she screamed in his face.

"THIS IS FOR MY MOTHER!" Suddenly a fireball broke her concentration. An old, fat man stood on the deck above them.

"Prince Zuko!", he screamed, "you need to flee. You cannot hope to win over that...that blue-eyed demon. She is too powerful. Swallow your pride and live to try to capture the Avatar again. Without...her." He spat towards Katara. And for once Zuko did. Then he saw the Avatar. He wasn't as old as he had thought he would be. _At least that's good news. The enemy of the Fire Nation is but a child,_he thought as he fled. The front of the ship closed and it disappeared away from the South Pole.

Katara was furious. The enemy had escaped. As she calmed down she suddenly remembered where she was and turned around to face the village. She saw not thankful looks as she had driven away the enemy, but terror-struck faces filled with disbelief. It started with a murmur from the back and rose into angry shouts. She could not hear them. It felt like they suddenly were further away than they had ever been before. Gran-Gran and Sokka just stood there. Sokka full of disbelief, Gran-Gran's face unreadable but for the faintest sliver of sorrow. Then she saw Aang, the Avatar, she was sure now, who stared at her disgust and went back into the igloo. She felt she couldn't face so much hatred and she used the snow to race away.

"Don't come back!", she heard Yokana, her mother's former best friend, scream. Then she knew she had lost the village forever.

Sokka had gotten up by the time Katara had stopped the soldiers. He stared in disbelief and his eyes widened when he saw what she was doing he realized why she had a disemboweled man in her cave. The realization scared him and he hoped he wasn't right. When he saw his sister's smirk, he knew he was. He watched sadly as Katara crushed the men's organs. Then his sight got hazy and he realized that he was crying silent tears. Tears for his mother and tears for that little girl who he had thought of only as an annoying little sister. He cried because he knew that she had died and been replaced a cold shell who loved to kill. As Katara jumped from soldier to soldier, stealing their blood, someone wondered

"what is she doing, Kanna?" Gran-Gran's answer was simple and short, it only needed it to be:

"She's bloodbending." Then as the Fire Nation ship withdrew, Katara turned around, calm now, she knew she had done a mistake. Some villagers were at first just making unhappy murmurs but as it continued it escalated into angry shouts.

"You sick bloodbender!", Arooka's sister, Nikka, screamed.

"Monster!", someone else screamed.

"We've been feeding a demon!", another screamed. Apparently, that was enough for Katara and she speeded away in the snow.

"Don't come back!", he heard Yokana, his mother's former best friend, scream. Then he knew what he had to do.

* * *

**Author's end notes:** So, much longer than the first one. I fleshed out the story behind Huo and Zhu. I didn't want them to feel like Faceless Mook #1 and Faceless Mook #2. I wanted want Katara had done to sink in and for the reader to understand how terrible it was...please don't kill me. Anyway, You might be wondering about Katara's sudden skill in waterbending. Come on, it's obvious. She's had three years of solitude having nothing to do but training...Poor Arooka...Well, some sacrifices has to be made. FOR SCIENCE! *trumpet fanfare* And that makes everything alright. Next time: Sokka and Katara talks. **In CHAPTER III.**

**Buhbye.  
**


	3. Chapter III: The Path of Despair

**The Flow of Blood**

Author's notes: Hellooooo, welcome to the third chapter of The Flow of Blood. Last time, Katara's bloodbending habits were revealed in front of the entire village (awkward) and her cruel, murderous personality was revealed with it. (uh-oh) Anyway, have a good old time. 三=3

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**CHAPTER ****三**

**THE PATH OF DESPAIR**

_**"Katara! KATARA!", Sokka**_ decided that if he screamed she would almost certainly flee before he even got the chance to talk to her. Behind him, a bored Aang followed. He didn't understand why he had to help searching for Katara. He had only known her for a day and he didn't like her.

"What I don't understand is why that Fire Navy ship attacked your village.", he asked.

"How long were you frozen in that iceberg? News flash: Fire Nation starts a 100-year war by wiping out the Air Nomads in one day. They proceed to attack the Earth Kingdom now slowly ripping it apart kingdom by kingdom. The Northern Water Tribe is cut off from the rest of the world. My village is subject to raid after raid, one of these resulting in my mother's death and my sister has been revealed to be a psychotic maniac!", he shouted furiously in Aang's face. Aang was stared at him terrified, no, not at him, behind him. Sokka turned around to see Katara looking at him with hate in her eyes, no, not at him, behind him. He stepped out of the way.

"You...", Katara whispered. Suddenly she moved her arms in a terrifying pattern.

"KATARA!", Sokka shouted.

"If you hadn't magically showed up, Baldy. I might have still had my life left.", she said with a voice filled with hatred.

"Katara...", Sokka said meekly.

"But no, the Avatar had to return now, did he?", she said mockingly.

"The...the...the WHAT?" Sokka said staring hopefully at Aang. Aang nodded as if to admit that, yes, he was the Avatar.

"If you hadn't showed up in that lightshow my brother would blissfully unaware about my research cave.", she said. Her voice overflowing with hatred and anger.

"Katara, you're scaring me...", Sokka said in the same meek tone as before.

"And about that lightshow. You might as well have sent that Fire ship an message saying: 'Hi, guys. I'm here in the South Pole chilling in an iceberg. Oh, wait, someone released me. I'll be in the Southern Water Tribe village if you need me.'", the last part she said in a mocking tone. Aang was now wriggling in pain.

"Katara, STOP!", Sokka said angrily.

"Then the Fire ship wouldn't have come to the village, that officer, Zuko, wouldn't have ordered those guards to attack me and then they wouldn't be dead!", she screamed so fiercely it was almost a growl. "And then...and then I could still live in the village, my village. You won't have the pleasure of an easy death. I can do so many things that can torment a human being for hours before its death. Let's start with breaking off those limbs of yours.", she said with a bit too much joy.

"KATARA, **NO!**" Before Sokka could even react to what he had done he had thrown his boomerang at Katara. After just one second Aang lay in the snow gasping for air and Katara just stood there with a shocked expression on her face. A long line of blood had appeared on her forehead. Blood mixed with tears dripped on the snow. Then Katara turned around to face the ocean. Another blood tear dripped on the ground. Then Katara jumped off the cliff into the ocean, bending water to catch herself and then speeding away across the ocean. Away from Sokka, away from Aang, away from Gran-Gran and away from the South Pole.

Sokka and Aang returned to the village, when a small boy ran up to them.

"SOKKA!", he screamed happily.

"Hi, Ataneq.", Sokka answered glumly.

"I heard from my mom that when the bad guys came, a demon attacked the village. My igloo was destroyed so me, Mom, Ahnah, Akiak and Anyu are going to live in Katara's cave. She wouldn't mind, right?", he said quickly. An image flashed through Sokka's mind. A picture of the four kids finding Katara's "research cave". That would not be good.

"She would mind. She has some...private things there. You could live in mine and Gran-Gran's igloo.", he said slowly.

"Oh...okay! Thank you, Sokka!", he said before happily running off to tell his mother, Aga, the good news.

Sokka found Gran-Gran sitting in their igloo. He told her what had happened at the cliff and that Aga's family would come and live with her while he was gone. After he told her about the cliff, a tear fell down her cheek. After he had told her he would be leaving, she wondered where he would go although she already knew the answer.

"I'm going with Aang to the North Pole. He's the Avatar and he needs a waterbending master and I'm going to find Katara and speak reason with her. She can never return to the village and she nearly killed our last hope for peace in the world. I can at least see to it that she doesn't hurt any more people."

When he exited the igloo, he found that some of the women had eavesdropped on the conversation. When he stepped out they quickly went about their own business. He saw Aang playing with some of the kids.

"Come. We're going to the North Pole to find you a master.", Sokka said bluntly. Aang hesitated before agreeing. They went to Appa who was standing near the village and climbed up in his saddle. Two yips later, they were up and flying.

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**Author's end notes:** Welcome to the end of this rather twisty chapter. Well, almost the whole chapter was a twist. It's short because I wrote it at 11 AM. This is Katara's Villainous Breakdown. I had to get her off the South Pole somehow. Following with Aang was out of the question so I had to do this. Anyway, I think tomorrow will be a pause. Next chapter will be a glorious time skip. Aga, Ataneq, Ahnah, Akiak and Anyu are all legitimate Inuit names. **In next chapter: Time skip! A village in peril! And a mysterious Red Knight. Please read CHAPTER ****四****=Sì=4 in Chinese.**


	4. Chapter IV: The Red Knight

**The Flow of Blood**

**Author's notes: **So, I see you have returned to my little corner of . I'm stuck here with a damaged knee. Falling down stairs is dangerous business. Anyway, last time Sokka, Aang and Appa finally got their lazy butts off the South Pole. Katara got hers off too. In a slightly more dramatic way. Actually what do you think is more dramatic: flying away on a creature that is thought to be extinct or cliff diving into the ocean and speeding away like a water scooter. I will remain impartial. So, hopefully enjoy reading Chapter 四=4 in Chinese. It's a time skip.

**CHAPTER ****四**

**The Red Knight**

"I still can't believe you ate that lemur in the Southern Air Temple. It was probably the last of its kind.", Aang said angrily.

"Hey, I was hungry. The Number One rule for me: Eat first, ask questions later.", Sokka said indifferently.

"That's a rather dangerous rule.", Aang muttered under his breath.

"Aang, I'm shocked. How could...you...deny...me...oh no.", Sokka's falsely dramatic tone turned to dust when they saw the still smoking remains of a inn.

"I'm going in for a landing.", Aang said quietly. After they had landed they were greeted by a nervous young man.

"Welcome g-good sirs. M-my name is Xun. W-w-welcome. Uh, th-the inn isn't re-receiving right n-now.", he stuttered out.

"Yeah, we can see that. What happened?", Sokka said slightly irritated by Xun's stuttering. He gulped before answering.

"The-there w-was a fire, I-I think. The, the innk-keeper, hi-his wife, the two wait-waitresses, and, and the innkeeper's s-sixteen year old s-son all p-probably d-died.", he stuttered even more nervous than before.

"If ye'll want something coherent ye'll huv ta gie up on 'im 'n' ask someone else. 'e's bin a nervous wreck sin Tu dropped a boulder in fernent 'im by mistake.", said a voice from behind them. As they turned around they saw an old man with white hair and a sizable beard. He went over to them to shake their hands.

"High Constable Sugelan o' Xanying Province. Nice to make yer acquaintance."

"Sokka...of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Ah, so ye're from cross tha big blue, eh lad. Ah don't think ah've seen someone like ye're friend before, though. Where are ye from?", he asked squinting his eyes at Aang.

"Um...I...uh..."

"He's from Kongqi Village.", Sokka said quickly to save Aang.

"Ah haven't heard o' that steid afore.", Sugelan said suspiciously, squinting his eyes even more.

"It's far, far to the north.", Aang said catching on what Sokka was doing.

"Ah come from far, far ta th' north 'n' ah've ne'er heard o' any Kongqi Village.", he said triumphantly.

"It's new?", Aang said meekly. Sugelan looked at him amused and then let out a booming laugh.

"Look, lad. Ah respect yer privacy, bit ah ken yer an Lightfeet. Saw it from miles awa'. If ye dinnae want folk ta ken yer a Lightfeet then ye shuid cover up yer tattoos." He let out another laugh and slapped Aang hard on the back. Then suddenly he became serious.

"Noo, back ta th' job. We're dealing wi' arson 'ere 'n' ah dinnae intend ta let th' villain o' th' scene git awa'."

"What makes you so sure it was arson?", Sokka asked.

"Young mon, ah served in th' war afore ah retired. Ah clocked plenty o' burned-down houses. Ah ken th' difference atween arson 'n' accidental fires. Ah an' a' ken howfur houses that has bin burned by a torcher howfs 'n' sadly this howfs like it. Thir's a torcher near Xanying." As he had spoken he had gone up to Sokka's face and now he squinted his eyes so hard it looked like he actually had closed them.

"Okay, well it's getting late and we need to get some rest. So we'll see you later.", Sokka said cautiously.

"Ah'll see ye up the road. Ah'm a groundstomper. Ah cuid be useful.", Sugelan said. Sokka sighed and agreed. His head was hurting because of Sugelan's accent. So the three left the burnt inn leaving Xun who had through the entire conversation stuttered forth a I...I...I or a um...uh. Now he stood there completely forgotten about. The road was pitch-black by now and Sugelan was muttering to himself. For each step Sokka took he felt more and more sure that the old man was well and truly mad. It all went so quickly. One minute he's walking down a dark road and the other he's sitting against a tree with a bump on his head. His gaze got fuzzy and he wasn't sure, but it looked like a man in full red crystal armor with an axe for a right hand was fighting against Aang and Sugelan. He shook the dizziness out of his head and stood up quickly. Everything went black for some seconds and then he saw everything clearly. It really was a man in red crystal armor. Aang was dodging his attacks while Sugelan stood stomping uselessly on the ground nearby.

"C'moan, how come me bloody groundstomping isnae workin'", he muttered frustrated. The man went to attack him instead of Aang and as he drew back his axe to attack, Sugelan stomped more frantically. Sokka blocked the warrior's attack with his club. Suddenly, the warrior's axe hand changed into a normal right hand and he ran into the forest.

"Well, that was random.", Aang said uncertain what just had happened.

"We shuid git ta th' village afore 'e returns.", Sugelan said with the voice of an authority. Sokka sighed. Even when he makes sense he doesn't make any sense.

* * *

When they got to the village an old woman limped out from one of the houses.

"SUGELAN!", she screamed hoarsely and limped over to them.

"Thank you for bringing my husband back. He's been completely bonkers since our son died in the war and now he thinks he's a earthbender like our son was and the High Constable of our province. That is Tu's job, Sugie. I hope he hasn't bothered you.", she said, her words almost tripping over each other.

"We wur attacked by th' Rid Knight, Zhenli. We barely made it oot alive 'n' Tu's bin gun fur three weeks.", Sugelan half-screamed.

"Oh, dear. That's not good."

"Excuse me, who is the Rid Knight?", Aang asked.

"Oh, you will need to ask the village librarian about that. I need to take care of my husband", Zhenli said still worried over Sugelan's well-being.

The village librarian turned out to a lean man with brown hair. When Aang asked about the Red Knight the librarian wordlessly turned around and got some scrolls. He pointed towards the scrolls then the reading table and then he made a hushing gesture. They unfurled the scrolls and began to read.

_Once the Red Knight served under the Sun Lord as one of Agni's most loyal general. But when he saw the atrocities the Fire People did in the war that was started by Sozin. He rebelled against his master. As a punishment, he would haunt places where murder had been committed by one of the Fire People forever. But, if he ever were to return to Agni's court. He would either do it with the head of Bolang, the general of the Zhànshì spirits or be killed on the spot. But as the years passed another servant of Agni, Long the dragon, brought General Bolang's head to the Sun Lord and so the Red Knight was doomed to walk the earth for all eternity._

"That's...a pretty depressing story.", Sokka said.

"Yeah, no kidding.", Aang agreed, "though, it reminds me of someone. Anyway, as the Avatar I'm the bridge between the mortal world and the spirit world. The Red Knight is bound to know what happened or else he wouldn't be here, right?"

"I...guess.", Sokka said uncertainly.

"Then we know what we have to do. We have to find the Red Knight.", Aang said with determination as he looked out the window to the forest.

* * *

Next evening, Sokka and Aang went out to the forest. They packed food and a candle. The road was already getting dark. When they got to the place where the Red Knight had attacked them they went off the road in the direction that the Knight had run towards. They searched the woods for th entire night. When the sun began to rise, they returned to the village with their chins on the ground. Sugelan went up to meet them.

"Lads! Thank th' spirits ye're 'ere! Th' librarian's hoose has bin burned doon while ye twa wur gun!", he screamed in their faces.

"Th' librarian 'n' 'is guidwife baith died."

"Another firebender?", Sokka asked.

"Torcher.", Sugelan corrected him, "bit, aye, anither torcher."

"Then we just have to wait for the Red Knight here. I guess. Sorry about the librarian by the way.", Sokka said his thoughts fluttering away.

"Ah, tis fine. Na yin liked him either wey. Pity aboot his guidwife though. She wis up th' duff", Sugelan said indifferently.

"How could you just say that?!", Aang asked shocked. Sugelan didn't pay him any mind and walked home. Sokka stood there looking at the charred remains of the librarian's house, yet he was staring beyond it. His mind lost within a thousand thoughts.

* * *

They spent the day resting for the encounter with the Red Knight. As the evening came they walked out to the main square and waited. And waited. And waited. As it approached midnight they saw a man in red crystal armor seemingly appearing out of nowhere from the forest. He walked over to them and stood in front of them.

"Hi, Mr. Knight...um...I'm the Avatar and I want to ask you some questions.", Aang said unsurely.

"And what would that be?", the Knight asked in a deep monotone.

"I want to ask if you know who did this.", Aang said pointing towards the librarian's house.

"The-there was a girl.", the Knight said his voice suddenly brimming with fear. Then his voice went back to the deep monotone.

"A girl with raven-black hair and pale face. She laughed as it burned.", he said. Then the fear took over again.

"Help...me...", he said before the monotone kicked in again.

"Don't help me.", he said before his right hand turned into a axe and he charged at Aang who made a frightened noise before dodging the axe by jumping out of the way. He air scootered away to the statue that stood in the middle and took cover behind it. When the Knight didn't come over to him, he looked around the statue's plinth. Sokka and the Knight were locked in combat, axe versus club. Brutality versus skill. But after a hard fight, the Knight had Sokka cornered. Aang was thinking over the situation when a boulder suddenly flew into the Knight's head. He was thrown into a tree by the impact and his helmet shattered. Underneath was a man with raven-black hair and golden eyes.

"Fire Nation.", said a voice from behind. There stood Xun completely calm and collected.

"I knew there had to be some truth to Sugelan's mad stories. I am Civil Constable Xun. I have complete control over the Police Force of the Xanying Province while Tu is on a two months vacation in Ba Sing Se and before anyone asks, yes, my stuttering was a façade. Now let's get this man to the high court in Xanying. Two officers came from a cart. They helped the man to stand up and he did so rather drunkenly. Then, as if he realized where he was he looked up in the tree, gasped and promptly shook the tree with all his might. There was a flash of dirty blue as something fell from the tree with a loud crash. The man's armor slowly melted into thick, dark red blood.

The blue thing quickly crawled behind the tree. The Fire Nation man stared at it with anger.

"Why did you make me do this?", he asked before his eyes became empty and he fell to the ground. A small trickle of blood ran down from his mouth and that was all information Sokka needed about the blue thing behind the tree.

"K...Katara?" he asked shocked.

_Katara was sitting in a tree nearby steering the man she had found two weeks ago. He had been severely injured by a spear impaled through his stomach and he was unconscious, but she could hear his faint flickering heartbeats. It had taken two days for her to get him back to moderate health and then she watched from a distance as he was training his firebending. She had been taking stuff from the nearby village to survive but she was bored and she wanted something to do. It was when she had looked through the scrolls in the village library when she found the story of the Red Knight. Then she knew what to do. Next day, she had emptied innkeeper, his wife and their son of blood. The two waitresses were spared...for some minutes. They were mainly there for extra effect. Then, she used her firebender to burn down the building, made a suit of frozen blood and attacked people on the road. She had done this for a week when Sokka and Baldy showed up. Then she had moved her firebender into the village by burning down the library. She liked hearing the screams of the librarian, but his wife was pregnant and she felt sorry about the child for a second. Then she shook her head and extinguished the spark of sympathy that tried to take root in her and always failed. Then the man had done the unthinkable and resisted her control for one second. Twice. So she attacked. She saw Stutterman stomping up a boulder and before she had reacted he threw the boulder at her firebender. She broke contact before the boulder hit. Then they all met under her tree where her firebender had crashed and examined him. Then ex-Stutterman came up and spoke about police men and high courts. Then her firebender had shook the tree she was in and she lost her grip of the tree and of the armor. She quickly snuck behind the tree. Her firebender questioned the logic behind everything and in a spot of frustration she ended her firebender's miserable life. Sokka knew who she was then, so she closed her eyes and used the waterbending technique she had practiced on the day when the Red Knight was not to attack. She could sense water using her 'hydro-sense' as she called it. She scanned the surroundings searching for a pool of water...and found it._

Sokka looked around the tree and found Katara with closed eyes. He was beginning to wonder if the fall had knocked her out when she started to wave her arms in a upwards fashion. Up, up, up. Water broke out of the ground and Katara opened her eyes, looked at Sokka her eyes unreadable and began to move her arms in a circle with the water slowly encircling her in a water spout. Then she shot away into the night, leaving Sokka behind. He went to the others.

Sugelan stood whispering "Sae 'twas a bloody Wavemover a' alang." to himself. Xun decided to take the dead man to Xanying either way and he and his officers went back to the cart. Aang stood there looking at Sokka in sympathy. Then they got Appa from the inn to the village, said their short goodbyes and flew wordlessly away.

_Aang was dreaming. The thing about dreams are that you don't know that it's a dream. Aang knew it was a dream and therefore he knew it was important. He was flying on Appa when a blue eye opened in front of his face. It started to cry blood and in the blood he saw his former master Monk Gyatso reflected. "Aang...why did you run away?", he asked and then the eye closed and disappeared. There was blood on the temple floor. He saw a man cloaked in shadows standing over the body of Monk Anil. The man looked at him with invisible eyes and everything became black. Then there was a brilliant light-blue glow. It was here Aang discovered it was a dream. He was standing in front of a statue of Avatar Roku. He recognized Roku from the sanctuary in the Southern Air Temple. There was a calendar on the floor the sun's light reflected off it on dates. The word "TODAY" etched itself into his mind. The light was close to hitting the statue's eyes but not close enough. A vision of a comet went through his mind before the word "TOMORROW" settled in as well. Now the sun's rays hit Roku's eyes and they glowed. A picture of a crescent-shaped island flashed through his mind together with directions. _Aang woke up in his tent feeling rested. He knew exactly what to do.

**Author's end notes:** Yes, I killed Momo. But he seriously has no place in this fanfic. It's too dark for him. I like Sugelan, he gave me a reason ta break oot me Scots accent. No, I'm not Scottish...so much. I'm mostly Swedish and Finnish but my great-grandmother was Scottish before moving to Värmland. But enough about me. Katara's hydro-sense will become important later, of course. Another note on Katara's skill. Her fierce determination helps somewhat. As a wise, old, green man once said: "There is no try, only do."

**Next chapter: Aang visits the Fire Temple. ****Zuko attacks. Katara attacks. Zhao attacks. ****People attack in general. Next time in Chapter V: Roku attacks**_, uh, I mean,_** The Fire Temple**

**Buhbye**


	5. Chapter V: The Fire Temple

**The Flow of Blood**

I don't own anything you recognize from the show.

**Previously on TFoB: **Two cases of arson revealed to be Katara. Aang has a dream that basically tells him to be at a crescent-shaped island tomorrow or else. Now, back to the story in

* * *

**CHAPTER ****五****=5**

**The Fire Temple**

_**Katara was following**_ Zuko or Scarface as she called him. She had done it ever since she saw him leaving port in Duankou Village. After Sokka and Baldy had found her, she had decided that staying for more than a week was...unwanted. She had learnt how to stay hidden and , if needed, how to disappear. She knew how to climb walls using water, freezing, un-freezing, moving a limb and freezing to hold it in place while repeating with another limb. She had learnt how to do it quickly after an hour of practice. It was basics to freeze water. She had stolen a pair of gloves to protect against the cold. Around morning the first day she saw Scarface and Old Fatty and their men lay out from port. They were Fire Nation and from what she could tell from their first encounter Scarface was a banished prince. Old Fatty was probably his mentor or something. It would be a start. Then her revenge would truly begin. So she followed them under water. Waiting for a chance to strike. Old Fatty would be a problem and she couldn't hope to win when Scarface's troops were with him. She had to get Scarface when he was alone.

After two hours of swimming she began to make out the shadows of Fire Nation ships. Lots of them. _A blockade_, she thought. _He has to turn back. There's no chance they would let a banished prince past. _A volley of fireballs confirmed it. One of them fell right in front of her. Katara was constantly moving under the water. Dodging fireball after fireball until it suddenly stopped. She saw Scarface's ship going past the blockade. That didn't make any sense. Why would the blockade let Scarface past. If he was banished it would put the leading officer of the blockade at great risk. Katara pondered this for a minute and came to the conclusion that either the lead officer was a friend of Scarface's or he was mad. She continued after the small ship until another shadow was lowered into the water. She was sure it was Scarface. Suddenly a cloud of smoke concealed the sun. Katara took the chance to survey the skiff. She surfaced and closed her eyes, using her hydro-sense to scan the skiff. She saw the blood signature of only one man, Scarface she decided, on the skiff. She went back down under water and followed Scarface.

The sun was beginning to set when Scarface landed on an island. Katara surfaced and saw him get off his skiff, walking up the volcano of the island towards a large building. Katara followed from a distance. Then she saw that infernal bison that Baldy owned hidden in a cave. Then she understood why Scarface had come to this island. What she didn't understand was why Baldy and probably Sokka was here. Were they really so stupid as to go into Fire Nation territory? No, they had to have a reason. But what?

She closed her eyes and scanned. Scarface was sneaking around the building. On the top floor were three persons. Baldy, Sokka and some other guy, or girl. Four other people were running around in the building. She decided the safest route was to climb the building. Something that would be hard because of the heat of the volcano. But she bit it together and started to scale the wall. Around the third floor, there was a loud explosion.

* * *

"It didn't work.", Shyu said glumly. The explosion had been Sokka's attempt at fake firebending and it had shaken the entire Temple and the Fire Sages were probably alerted. They had to do something quick. Suddenly they heard footsteps in the stairs. Aang and Sokka hid behind the pillars in the outer sanctum.

"The Avatar has entered the sanctum!", Shyu screamed at his colleagues. They looked at the scorch marks on the door and frantically started to do some firebending moves at the door to get it open. Then they all released steady streams of fire in each lock. The giant doors opened with a loud creak.

"Now, Aang!", Sokka cried out. Aang began to run towards the door. Then an angry voice came from the stairs.

"The Avatar is coming with me!", Zuko shouted. Aang's movements sped up as he almost flew towards the door.

"Close the door!", the great sage exclaimed with a voice half anger over Shyu's betrayal, half excited that the Crown Prince was here. Aang sped past the Sages + Zuko into the inner sanctum. The door closed in a flash of light.

* * *

Suddenly Aang was standing on a mountaintop with an elderly man standing in front of him.

"Hello, Aang. What took you so long?", Avatar Roku asked kindly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the four Sages + Zuko tried to open the door but to no avail.

"Why isn't it working? Is it sealed shut?", Zuko said angrily.

"That light...Roku doesn't want us inside.", the Great Sage answered solemnly.

* * *

"Why did you call me here? Did you do those other dreams too?", Aang asked his former life.

"I can't look into your natural dreams, Aang. I can only give you visions of things to come. Now, the reason I called you was because I have something important to tell you. That is why I sent you the vision.

"The one about the comet."

"Yes."

* * *

Zuko was interrogating Shyu about the Avatar while Sokka was chained to a pillar when Commander Zhao showed up. He was followed by six firebenders.

"Greetings, my prince. I see your dealing with a traitor and the Avatar.", he said in a mocking tone

"Commander Zhao.", the Great Sage said and bowed. Zhao didn't pay him any mind.

"A noble effort but the smoke-screen didn't work. Now if you would just step to the side so I can get the Avatar and you won't need to get hurt."

"You're too late, Zhao. The Avatar has sealed the doors to the sanctum.", Zuko replied his voice bubbling with anger.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?", a cold voice said from the window. Zhao began to think for a moment that Princess Azula had come too. Then he saw the girl who just had climbed in through the window.

"You...", Zuko whispered.

"Hello, Scarface. Did you miss me?", Katara said her tone sounding so much like Azula's calculating voice that it sent shivers up Zhao's spine.

"Katara.", said a boy chained to a pillar that Zhao hadn't noticed before.

"Sokka, you're here? Then I guess Baldy's here too.", she said in false shock.

"Excuse me, but who are you?", Zhao asked tired of being neglected.

The girl's cold blue eyes scanned him. She closed them for a second, breathing evenly. She opened her eyes again.

"I should ask you the same Muttonchops. But I'll probably just forget your name after I kill you.", she said in the same calm and collected tone as before.

Zhao motioned for one of his guards to attack the rude girl. But before the man could do anything, the girl did some fast, wavy motions before making a crushing gesture. The guard fell down, dead. Zhao's eyes widened in fear.

"Don't worry. I'll give you a fair fight. Wouldn't be much fun either way. Makes it a lot more interesting, don't you think.", she said her voice remaining eerily calm as if she was talking about the weather.

"But, it'll have to be man versus girl."

With that she completely emptied the guards of blood. Then she turned to the Sages.

"If you don't want to end up like them I'd suggest you back off.", she said always completely in check off her emotions. The Sages took the hint. Zuko tried to sneak away.

"Oh no, I'm not done with you.", she said like a scolding mother, lifting up Zuko with a few motions and using her water to freeze him in place next to Sokka.

"Why don't you and Sokka reminisce about the time when you attacked our village.", she said calm as ever before turning back to face Zhao.

* * *

"That comet was used by Firelord Sozin to start the war a hundred years ago and now it is returning after a hundred years at summer's end."

"But, how did Sozin use it?"

"The comet makes firebenders unbelievably strong. Sozin used it to wipe out the Air Nomads in a day and now Firelord Ozai plans to end the war with its help. However he might do it."

"I need to stop him, don't I?"

"Yes, Aang. You do. Else the world will be thrown off balance and be plunged into chaos. But you are in terrible danger."

Aang received a vision of some guy with muttonchops battling against Katara. She was effortlessly dodging his wild fireballs. Zuko and Sokka was standing near a pillar. Sokka chained and Zuko frozen in place.

"I can help you face the threat, are you ready?"

"I'm ready."

* * *

"You'll have to try a little more if you want to even hit me at all.", Katara mocked Muttonchops. She had been dodging fireball after fireball and it was starting to bore her. She might have to end it here if she would ever have time to kill Scarface.

"By the way, I'm Katara." She was just going to kill Muttonchops when the doors to the inner sanctum opened with a loud crash. Muttonchops took the opportunity to flee. An old man was standing in the doorway.

"Avatar Roku...", she heard one of the Sages say with awe.

Avatar Roku made an upwards fashion motion and lava spewed out from the ground. Melting Sokka's chains and Scarface's ice with precision. Scarface fled.

"Roku is destroying the temple. We have to leave!", a Fire Sage which obviously was friends with Sokka and Baldy said.

"Not without Aang.", Sokka answered.

Roku made a crack in the floor, making more lava spew out. Then he disappeared, leaving Baldy lying on the floor. Sokka ran over to him and tried to carry him. That bison came up to the window, roaring through it.

"For the love of Tui and La...", Katara shouted and bloodbent Baldy over to the bison's saddle. Sokka looked thankfully at her. She didn't return the gaze. Sokka ran to the window and climbed up in the bison's saddle. Then he turned around and stretched out his hand. Katara took it and climbed up into the creature's saddle. Then she instantly ran to the other side of the saddle and used its crenulations as a springboard. Diving into the ocean and swimming away like a torpedo. Never looking back.

* * *

Aang woke up some minutes later. Sokka was looking out over the Mo Ce Sea as Appa flew towards the Earth Kingdom. Sokka told him what had happened while he was out. The two boys looked out over the ocean together as if hoping that they would see Katara if they stared long enough at it.

* * *

**Author's end notes:** So, um, what to say. Duankou is "port" in Chinese. Katara nicknames people she doesn't like. Mostly cause she doesn't remember their names or choose to forget or do know, but doesn't care. Right now it's: Aang=Baldy, Zuko=Scarface, Iroh= Old Fatty, Zhao=Muttonchops, Appa=That/The bison/creature. **_In the next chapter: A hidden city under the ground...snakes in abundance...a secret threat awaits its return..._**


	6. Chapter VI: The Hidden City

The Flow of Blood

I don't, and probably will never, own Avatar.

**Previously on TFoB: **Aang and Sokka travel to the Fire Temple to contact Avatar Roku. Katara stalks Subje...uh, I mean follows Zuko to the Fire Temple. Aang contacts Avatar Roku. Aang learns of a comet that the Firelord can and will use to destroy the world. Zhao comes to the Fire Temple all dun-DUN-**DUN**. Katara attacks Zhao. Aang attacks everyone in the form of Roku. Zhao flees. Zuko flees. Katara help her brother help Aang for unknown reasons. Then she flees, too. Let's continue in

* * *

**CHAPTER ****六****=6**

**The Hidden City**

_**Katara had helped **_Aang. But why? She hates him. He knew that. Was it so that the former Katara gained control over her body for a time? Did she only do it for Sokka's sake? All this and more went through Sokka's head as they flew over the Earth Kingdom.

"It's getting late. We should land..", Aang said noticing how Sokka looked out over the land, his eyes partly closed, lost in thought. Sokka grunted weakly and continued looking out.

"There's a nice clearing not far from here.", Aang continued. Sokka grunted weakly again and fell to his back looking at the sky. At least he had moved. Sokka had sat in that position for three weeks now. Only moving to eat, sleep and occasionally to forage for supplies. Aang sighed and began steering Appa towards the clearing.

It was getting dark when they got to the clearing.

"I thought you said this place was close.", Sokka moaned. "Now we'll have to skip dinner."

"Not if we don't have to. Ever heard off being up late?", Aang asked mischievously. "I used to be up all night flying on Appa. I never could sleep."

"Go figure.", Sokka groaned. He started to pack up their food. It was mostly berries and nuts and other things which you didn't have to cook. Sokka groaned again.

"What wouldn't I do for some meat?", he asked himself.

"Go take on a elephant-tiger, maybe?", Aang said with real meaning in his voice.

"It was a rhetorical question!", Sokka shouted back at him a little irritated.

"Oh...okay!", Aang answered happily.

Suddenly, a shriek of a little girl penetrated the silence.

"Bangzhu!"

"What was that?", Sokka exclaimed.

"I think someone needs help!", Aang stood up and began running through the forest towards the scream.

"BANGZHU!", the girl screamed even louder. Sokka sighed, looking down at his food and began running after Aang.

"**BANGZHU!**", the girl's shout sounded through the woods now. Aang's speed picked up and now he ran so fast that it seemed like he was flying. Dodging the trees as they zoomed past. He ran until he came to a small river. In it a girl was fighting to stay afloat. Sokka caught up. He bent double and wheezed.

"Never...run...that fast...again...", he told Aang. Aang didn't listen, he had jumped into the river. A minute later both him and the girl lay on the shore. Aang got up and looked at the girl. He was startled by what he saw. The girl had sickly pale skin, white hair and huge, jet black eyes without any whites. She was at least his age, but she was very short. She got up as well, bowed and said:

"Xiexie ni, qin'ai de xiansheng."

Aang and Sokka stared perplexed at her.

"Wojiang rongxing di wei nin tigong bihu wanshang zai wo jia zhong yincang de chengshi.", she continued, still bowing. She looked up to see their perplexed stares. Realization sparked in her eyes.

"Aaaaah...", she said. She motioned for them to follow her. They did so with a bit of hesitation As they walked in the forest she rambled on about something. "You ge nuhai zai xueyuan keyi shuo zai biaomian yuyan. Dangran, na shi yinwei ta shi cong biaomian. Xihuan ni. Ta dique shige hao xue wanqu, ni zhidao de. Ta xuexi wo biaomian de yuyan, dan wo zhi zhidao 'Ello' he 'Sorri' xianzai. Wo wanquan wangle, ni bu mingbai wo shuo de yige ci. Sorri." While she rambled, she stirred a couple of cat-squirrels.

"Aang. Why are we following her?", Sokka whispered cautiously. "For all we know she's talking about what would bring out our flavor the best in the stew she's making."

"Look, Sokka. Just because someone looks like they do, they don't have to be evil...or good.", Aang said wisely.

"I'll trust you on this, bud. But the way she talks plus her eyes kind of unnerves me.", Sokka said.

"Aah, you're just paranoid.", Aang waved it away. Right then, she turned around and said the last sentence and topped it off with a "Sorri".

"Why did she apologize?", Sokka asked.

Aang shrugged. "Maybe she understands that we don't understand.", he said optimistically. For the rest of the walk everyone was silent. Until they finally came to a stop. The girl pointed to a cave. Then she facepalmed and pointed to herself.

"Shisun.", she said moving her hand back and forth while pointing at herself and smiling.

"I think she's saying that her name is Shisun.", Aang said uncertain.

"Well, duh...", Sokka said. Shisun motioned again and went into the cave. Aang followed cautiously. The cave was a tunnel which stretched deep into the ground. They followed Shisun until the tunnel became wider. After a sharp turn, the tunnel opened up on a shelf over a gigantic cavern. In it was a city all lit up with green, glowing crystals. Shisun smiled proudly at them when she saw their awe-struck faces. She continued down a ramp to the right of the shelf and they followed, trying to take in the sight of the underground city. As they reached the streets they saw other pale people walking there and as they came down they stopped walking and murmurs arose from the crowd. Shisun said something to them quite forcefully and they immediately stepped out of the way. The group continued down the street. It turned and twisted and sometimes they turned to other streets. Aang was beginning to wonder how Shisun knew where to go. IF she knew where to go. After what seemed like an eternity the street gave way into a field with pens of wolf-bats. Then they went into another cave. First they passed an entrance hall littered with bags. There was a minor encounter with a short man but after he had talked with Shisun he glared at Aang and Sokka and stepped out of the way. They came into another, smaller, cave. In it there were people training.

"Sokka, look. That guy is doing airbending moves.", Aang said enthusiastically. His hope of other airbenders died out completely when he finished the move. Instead of the outwards burst of wind that Aang had expected, he did a inwards motion. A wolf-bat in front of the 'airbender' let out a short yelp of pain and then rapidly aged away into dust.

Shisun visibly felt uncomfortable by their reaction to the wolf-bat's death.

"Linghun wanqu...", she whispered to herself.

Aang was completely dumb-struck.

"What in Koh's name...", Sokka began. Aang could only nod in agreement. Sokka looked at the other students. Some were doing earthbending moves or at least he thought it looked like his dad's descriptions of earthbending moves. But at the end they did a slight change which instead of ripping up a piece of earth changed their appearance to that of their master. The master said something and they said the exact same thing with the exact same voice.

"Xingzhuang wanqu...", Shisun explained.

There was some who did the all too familiar firebending moves but more flowing and a wolf-bat fell limp on the ground twitching.

"Chi wanqu...", Shisun explained once more.

The last had waterbending moves but with a crushing motion at the end and another wolf-bat fell to the ground, black blood flowing from his mouth.

"Xue wanqu...", Shisun explained lastly.

"Hao.", the master of the group said with a dark smirk in her voice that Sokka knew too well. The master of the group was Katara.

Aang had gotten back to his senses after the shock with the rapidly aging wolf-bat. Now he saw Katara and groaned.

"Why do the spirits hate us so?", he asked himself depressed. Katara looked away from her group. If she was surprised to see them, she didn't show it.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask them? I thought you were the bridge between their and our world.", she said in a slight mock. "Hello, brother.", she added when she saw Sokka.

"Katara.", Sokka said nodding to her.

"Sokka, when did you get so stoic? Still travelling with Baldy I see.", she said with a false tone of cheeriness.

"Sifu Katara, ni zhi bu zhidao zhexie ren ne?", Shisun said. One could hear that she looked up to Katara.

"Wo geng liaojie tamen. Ni zhiqian wo dai laile wo de xiongdi he ta de...pengyou.", she said acknowledging Shisun.

"Oh, ni neng ba wo zai shuo shenme ma?", she said cheerfully.

"Kending.", Katara answered. "Renwei zhe shi yige ni zuijin zai xunlian zhong nuli de jiangli."

"Yay!", Shisun said cheerfully.

"All too cheerful...", Katara whispered to herself. "We'll have to deal with that."

"Shisun here have asked me to translate for her and I have agreed.", she told Aang and Sokka. She went to her class before they could answer.

"Lei.", she said sternly. "Jintian, women tiqian wancheng. Wo xuyao zhaogu de mosheng ren." The students bowed and then they walked away hurriedly.

"Suoyi, ni you she me xiang shuo de ma?", Katara asked Shisun. Shisun started talking.

"Shouxian, wo xiang shuo xiexie ni jiule wo. Ranhou, wo bu zhidao, ruguo ni xiang canguan wo de chengshi. Huanying lai dao Yincang de Chengshi.", she said.

"She's saying thank you basically and she asks if you want a tour of the city. Then she welcomes you to Yincang de Chengshi, the Hidden City.", Katara translated already bored.

"Katara, ni neng gaosu tamen youguan women de wanqu xingshi?", Shisun asked Katara. Katara sighed.

"Hao ba.", she said. "So, bloodbending you already know about. Shisun has asked me to go through the other types. Dongxue over there teaches shapebending." She pointed to a short man with a wild, white mane.

"It's kind of is like earthbending only with it, you can change the shape and the voice of yourself and others. Bianfu teaches chibending." She pointed to a slightly shorter completely bald man.

"It uses inverted firebending moves to instead of using your energy to make fire you suck out the energy of your victim. It's a huge strain to do it to anything larger than a wolf-bat, though. Last but not least, Keng teaches soulbending." She pointed to a stern woman with white hair in a tightly woven braid which extended from the top of her head to her waist.

"Soulbending is probably the worst thing anyone could ever do to a living thing. First you rip out the creature's soul from its body and that alone probably hurts very much. Then you use the soul as a weapon and when you let go the soul can't travel to the Spirit World. It's stuck in this world until they've had their revenge like any other restless spirit. That's probably why all soulbenders are paranoid. I like how they use airbending moves though. Nice to know that they can be used like that. Eh, Baldy?"

Aang pretended like he didn't hear that.

"However you might think it. These are NOT dark arts of the basic elements. That's what I like with them. They are their own bending types and the best is that any bender can master the one responding to their own and learn the basics of the one next to theirs in the Great Cycle. You don't need any gene for it.", while she had explained her eyes had started to glow with zealousness and had gotten a hint of red. She shook her head.

"Shisun , shi bushi you ni tan dao de youlan ma?", she said to Shisun.

"Oh, duile.", she said. She motioned for them to follow and so they did.

As they walked around the city, Shisun would occasionally say something and Katara translated. Aang didn't listen. He was too busy staring at all the snake decorations in the city. They were everywhere, pillars, door knockers, encircled around the small windows and in what Shisun said was the Main Square as a gigantic statue of a rolled up snake with a lifted head. In its eyes were large red crystals. The sight of it sent shivers up Aang's spine and he couldn't explain why. When he presented the problem to Sokka he just shrugged and said that

"Maybe one of your previous lives was bitten by a snake and it's some kind of Avatar memory."

Aang felt that that was highly unlikely. But he continued walking. He tried to avert his gaze from the snakes by looking into the ground, but the streets were adorned with snakes too.

"Why do you look so nervous?", Sokka asked.

"I just don't like this.", Aang replied.

"Don't like what?", Sokka asked.

"Everything.", Aang said frustrated. " The city, that we need to rely on KATARA of all people to talk with our guide and the snakes I like the worst of all. I don't know Sokka, what is she even doing here?" Katara walked up beside him.

"The two days after the happenings at the temple, I mostly just drifted around. I took shelter in a cave the second night and I found that the cave continued. After a minute of exploring I found the city. The first encounter was a little messy, but when they saw my bloodbending they stopped attacking and showed me to the academy. I trained under a master and quickly breezed past the other students and was proclaimed master after five days. When the old master 'mysteriously' disappeared, I was the closest master in the academy. So now I have a class and I will teach them what I know. In the two weeks here I learned their language. Shisun is one of my pupils. She doesn't like to kill and when she does it's in a quick and painless way. Was there anything else you wanted to know?", she said happily.

"Why did you tell me that?", Aang asked distrusting.

"'Cause you asked so nicely.", she answered calmly. Aang wasn't sure how to take that.

"What's with the snakes, anyway?", he asked Shisun still frustrated.

Shisun said something and Katara translated.

"They're supposedly images of the city's protector. You're not supposed to say his name though."

"Why not?", Aang asked quizzically.

"It brings misfortune." Katara said without translating to Shisun. There was a flash of red in Katara's eyes and suddenly Aang was filled with the sudden desire to meet the protector of the city. He stated this desire by asking if he could see him or something. They were led to a neighboring cave connected to the main one by a narrow tunnel. In it was a giant pit filled with snakes.

"Don't worry, most of them aren't poisonous and all of them are tame.", Katara said but the undertone of something dark in her tone unsettled Aang. They crossed a bridge over the pit seemingly cut from the stone itself. They walked into a temple cut into the cave. In it there was a larger version of the snake statue. Only it seemed more alive. Its eyes were red crystal but this time it seemed that the eyes attracted the light around them. Aang felt like the snake was looking at him and its gaze was very old and very powerful.

"This is the most place where his world and ours are connected the most strongly in the city. It's called the Snake's Cave. You'll have to meditate in front of the statue to get to his world.", Katara said. Then she smiled encourage, or so she thought. To the others it was more of a smirk. Aang sat down and started meditating.

Aang was sitting on a plain. Then the ground curved down and he was on a mountaintop. Then the ground closed Aang into a large room filled with pillars. The entire room seemed to twist and change all the time. A gust of air became smoke which said

"**HEY MR. AVATAR. WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF YOU FOUND MONK GYATSO HIDING BEHIND THAT PILLAR OVER THERE?"**

Aang looked curiously behind the pillar to indeed find Gyatso chuckling behind the pillar. Aang ran over to him to give him a hug when Gyatso suddenly turned into a floating white face with a broad grin. A song came out of two metal instruments sitting on the pillar over the white face.

"Trololololol-lololol-lololol-lololololol-trololololol-trololololol-trolololololoooooool!"

Aang was seriously freaked out now. Then a wall came closer to Aang and an altar appeared. It changed into a table, then a bench, then a sofa and at last a stove. Another altar appeared and became a kitchen table with cabinets and drawers. A long leg came out of the wall, followed by a long arm and a long, slender body. Then came a head with eight masks in a circular pattern with one in the middle. Aang hid behind a pillar. He saw that each mask had different expressions. Clockwise, it was happy, angry, sad, scared, surprised, scowling, indifferent and thoughtful and all of them had an undertone of insanity. An constant maniacal laughter seemed to follow the creature/spirit? and it was constantly changing colors from red to blue to green and all the colors in between in a random pattern. It seemed to always change shape like it was made out of water, only the head never changed. Its legs shrunk down to normal size as it stood in front of the stove. It hands became a flint and steel which lit he stove as it sprouted another arm that took a strange plant from a cabinet. A cutting board formed on the kitchen table. The third hand put the strange plant on the board and turned into a knife. It sprouted another arm which helped cut the plant as it stretched its other arms to take a pot and put in on the stove. Water appeared in the pot and the spirit took out some noodles from a cabinet and put them in the water which had begun to boil. A closet door appeared and the spirit sprouted yet another arm and turned one of its fingers into a key. It was just about to unlock the closet door when it suddenly stopped. All extra arms retracted quickly into its body and it turned around. Its head spun from indifferent face to scowling face. It spoke and its voice ranged from a whisper to a shout, it could change in the middle of a word. Its voice changed as well, ranging a very old man to a young boy.

"I K**N**O_w _Y**O**u_'r_EhEr_e_, _a_Va**T**ar...", it said, its tone unreadable. It started walking away from Aang and then just disappeared.

"**B**Oo!", it was right behind him but when he turned around there was nothing there. The room changed. It became smaller and brighter and the pillars retracted into the ceiling or into the floor. Aang suddenly sat on a chair with the spirit right in front of him with the thoughtful mask in center.

"n**O**_w, _wHY wO_u_**L**d Y_o_u b_e _So S_t_uP**I**_d _aS t_o _COm_e t_O my D_oma_i**N**?", it asked.

"I don't know. Who are you?", Aang asked.

"iT D_oe_sN't kN_o_w? I am **H**UnLu_a_n, t_h_**E **On_e_ aNd o_n_**L**Y aRcHf_i_eND o_f c_HaoS. **P**Ota_to_Es**!**!_!_", it said. Suddenly it changed to the scared mask.

"Ma_s_tEr'S C_a_LliNg**!**!", it said and the room shrunk down to nothing, Hunluan following it. Aang was stuck in a black void before he was sucked down deeper into a cave. There was a rustle of scales. Two blood red eyes opened and seemed to attract the light around them. A black snake slithered out from the cave. It spoke and its voice was a hiss.

"We meet again, Touxiang.", it said.

"What do you mean. My name is Aang. Who are you?", Aang asked not understanding anything.

"I am the Shhha and do you really not remember me? Hasss all thessse millennia in the mortal world dimmed your memory, old friend?" The way the snake said 'old friend' sent shivers up Aang's spine.

"Then I shhhould probably remind you.", it said and bit him on the arm.

_Aang felt dizzy as memories sprung up. He was glowing, like in the Avatar State, only everywhere. Troops were rallying before him. The Sha was standing at the opposite side of the battlefield, hissing to his generals._

_Then the view changed. The Sha was banished. A one-way trip to Diyu and he would never return. Some, including his generals, were banished with him and some were allowed to stay. Those that had been corrupted had been allowed to stay, but they were forsaken and were imprisoned underground._

_Touxiang wanted to know more of his world. The world he had created. He went into mortal form as the waterbender Tuark, before the tribes split up. He saw that he could still bend the other elements. He was known as the Avatar, Avatar Tuark._

_Then he was the earthbender Gonglu, when Ba Sing Se still was a cluster of villages which would gradually grow into each other, and he could still bend the four elements. He discovered that he could tap into part of his divine power and activate a state of power. The Avatar State. Avatar Gonglu._

_Then he took the form of the firebender Dengen, when the volcano that now holds Capital City was still active. He still could bend all elements and control the Avatar State, but he had lost the memories of creating the world. Avatar Dengen,_

_Then he took the form of the airbender Nuspa, before the masters of airbending tattooed the marks of the sky bison on themselves. She could bend all elements and control the Avatar State, but she had forgotten everything about her ever being a High Spirit. Avatar Nuspa,_

_This was before the nations split up. His generals _

_Agni the Flame Spirit,_

_Tui the Moon Spirit and La the Ocean Spirit,_

_Shi the Stone Spirit, Wugou the Dirt Spirit and Shuijing the Crystal Spirit,_

_Weifeng the Spirit of the Northern Wind , Hefeng the Spirit of the Southern Wind, Feng the Spirit of the Eastern Wind and Fengbao the Spirit of the Western Wind_

_took control in his stead and the nations split up from the Central Land._

_The people of Agni traveled to the west and quelled the volcano on the largest island and built a safe home there. They became the Fire Nation._

_The people of Tui and La traveled to the north and built a city of ice and snow. They became the Water Tribe, who later split up._

_The people of Shi, Wugou and Shuijing stayed on the Central Land and created walls around the now-city of Ba Sing Se. They became the Earth Kingdom and expanded over all the Central Land. _

_The people of Weifeng, Hefeng, Feng and Fengbao scattered in all directions of the wind. They built temples in all cardinals as havens for themselves. They became the Air Nomads who now are almost extinct._

_But the Avatar continued the Great Cycle, which is much older than anything else, even Touxiang, and still does to this day. _

The Sha released Aang from his bite. Aang stumbled backwards from the shock.

"Ssso, now you know about your passst. Now you know why I have to kill you. But not now. I shhhall let you train and when the time isss right. I will ssstrike. I will have my revenge. Farewell, Touxiang, Tuark, Dengen, Gonglu, Nussspa and Aang. We will meet again.", the snake hissed and suddenly Aang was laying on his back. Gasping and drawing for air as if he had surfaced from a lake. He got up and looked at the others. Shisun looked as if she would scream. Sokka looked at Aang as if he had just jumped from the edge of the Great Divide. Katara just looked at him indifferently.

"Touxiang.", Shisun whispered terrified.

"Aang, you went all glowy and then you started shaking and flashing red and then you kept being red and then you stopped being red and went blue and now you're back!", Sokka rambled.

"I guess you met my master.", Katara said indifferently.

"Why? Why betray the world like this?", Aang asked.

"Because I don't care about the world. He offered me the power to destroy the Fire Nation. That's a chance you don't get twice in your life. This will be of help.", she said calmly and changed shape into an Earth Kingdom woman. Then she changed back.

"Don't worry. Chibending is just out of my reach and soulbending is directly dangerous for me to try to do. So at least I won't be running around turning people to dust. Chin up. Shapebending isn't offensive at all. You just change shape of yourself and others. So the main clue that it's me is still the blood trickle or the dried up corpse.", she said. Shisun had stared at Aang the entire time. Now she bowed quietly at him and walked away.

"I think that means we've worn out our welcome. Let's go.", Sokka said. He looked at Katara. She sighed.

"I'll stay here the nearest days.", she said. "I am still a teacher at the academy."

"But I'll sssee you sssoon.", she faked a hiss.

Two hours later, they sat once again on Appa. Staring out at the horizon. It had become somewhat of a habit. A habit which they'd rather not do.

* * *

**Author's end notes:** Brrr , this is the longest chapter I've written and I know because there's only been five chapters. So, in this chapter I don't show how an episode would have ended up if Katara was evil. I bring in a myriad of other things like the world's and the Avatar's back-story, an archenemy for the first Avatar, a whole batch of new bending types, and a new character. Don't kill me dead for this. Please. Thank you. (politely bows in China-style) _**In the next chapter: A group of fighters in the woods...Two people all for revenge...A jet of water extinguishes the fire...  
**_

**Buhbye!**


	7. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Hello, people of the Internet (also known as Readers *bows *) I'm not dead. I know I'm just as shocked as you guys. I have been busy. First I had to finish Shadow of the Colossus, and then my computer freaked out and took suicide permanently. Then I had to finish Journey until I got the White Cloak. Then I had to save up for a new computer. Then I temporarily forgot my password and now I'm here. I also created a back-up account called EternalShadowsReturn before I remembered my password. It's still there though. In case I go dead again remember to search for it and check on it, too. So, new chapters of The Flow of Blood could potentially be expected soon, but then again school coming up again soon so who knows?**

**-MVH**

**EternalShadow**


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